Abington fire chief wants broken truck replaced

ABINGTON – For the past 26 years Abington’s ladder truck has lifted firefighters to upper floors, carried specialized tools and been used to extinguish flames from high above.

But a recent inspection showed the ladder truck already had a significant hydraulic leak. In preparing to repair that leak in the mainframe of the chassis, a crack was found. “The aerial ladder will never go up again,” said Abington Fire Chief John Nuttall. “It’s functioning as a rolling toolbox right now.”

Monday night Nuttall appeared before the Abington Board of Selectmen and requested $1.2 million dollars for a new ladder truck. “It’s a significant loss for the town of Abington by not having this truck,” he said.

For now, Abington firefighters are relying on mutual aid from other towns. The issue, Nuttall said, is that there can be a time delay. Also, whenever there is a building fire, a request for mutual aid goes out, he said. “We are doing the best we can with the equipment we have.”

Abington firefighters called in mutual aid from Whitman, Holbrook, Rockland and Weymouth Wednesday night for a fire on Bedford Street at the Abington Auto Mall.

Firefighters made use of an aerial ladder from a neighboring town’s truck to cut holes on the second floor Nuttall said.

The flames, believed to have been caused by an unattended pot left accidentally on an electric stove, caused an estimated $100,000 in damage according to Chief Nuttall. One person was taken to Brockton Hospital with minor smoke inhalation.

Mutual aid was also needed for a house fire on Chapel Street on Saturday. The cause of that fire is still under investigation. The family of four that lived there was unharmed, but still cannot live at home due to the fire, smoke and water damage.

Ken Coyle is the chairman for the Abington Board of Selectmen. He said the request by Chief Nuttall for $1.2 million for a new ladder truck has been added to a warrant as an article for the June 9 town meeting. “The game plan is that we want to try and act on this as soon as we can,” Coyle said. “It’s not a great situation,” he said. “But we don’t want people to think that the fire department isn’t going to be there if there is a fire, because they will.”

The question of how to pay for a new ladder truck remains up in the air. “We will probably set up a committee and research how to pay for it,” said Dori Jamieson, Abington’s Assistant Town Manager. “It will be an expensive purchase.”

Jennifer Bray may be reached at jbray@enterprisenews.com or follow her on Twitter @JenniferB_ENT.